Aged , CCJs and retirement

[inacorner]

Just found this site and am getting some good advice.

 

This is a more general query and not sure where it best fits so please feel free to point me in a different direction.

 

I came out of a relationship about 4 years ago and was left in a lot of debt in my name mostly accrued by my ex. There is a substantial amount of equity (circa £130K in the jointly owned property that was bought 8 years ago using a deposit of about £40k funded solely by me. I'm fighting paying off all the debts and trying to finance court action to get reasonable contact with my kids and obvioulsy the equity from a sale would be a godsend.

 

Trouble is the ex wont agree to sell I cant afford legal representation on this and I'm told if the property sells there is no way I can get anyrecogntion in respect of the deposit that I paid as the property is in joint names. Can this be challenged?

 

Please dont tell me I'e been stupid (I know that - hindsight, heart ruling head etc.) but is there anything I can do?

 

How costly would it be to take action myself with no legal representation to sell the property and how easy is it.

 

All help appreciated

[Andy01]

MHO being into property investment your best bet is to go through the legal route. Were you married? and now divorce? or Only common-law husband?

 

A. when you say you left with lots of debt what kind of debt is it? cards/loan etc.?

B. If your partner didn't cotribute any thing towards deposit, it doesn't matter wether it on joint name,you can fight for it if you were live in partner not married. you need to demostrate where and how you paid the deposit did she contibute any of it it may be a small one.

C. If married than divorce is the first thing and then judge will be able to direct to put the property on sale in materonial basis.

 

Talking about to take action yourself with no legal representation i would recomend it. Its better to take legal team. Costing of selling your house is around £500-£600 ( convensying work) if you advertise it your self and find a buyer. there is NO HIP cost involved now as it has been SCRRAPED by gov.

 

You can put your property on market by local news paper/ internet etc but some time its easy by word of mouth and even better to ask your neighbour's from both side. 9/10 mostly neighbour do have some interest in it

[inacorner]

A. Its a mix of personal loans and cards

 

B. We were not married though we do have two children. Interesting as initial legal feedback said if mortgage was in joint names with equal shares there was nothing I could do. The deposit was entirely mine as was around another £8K on garden, fittings and furniture she never contibuted a penny

 

What would be the first steps, I cant afford any legal representation I've had to spend a fortune in gaining contact with my kids and its unlikely I'll be awarded costs even though she has had no reason to prevent reasonable contact has put every obstacle in the way and dragged it out over 3 years - wonder if there is any way to get this money back?

[Andy01]

MHO

A. To your personal credit cards and unsecured lons you can write to the explaining your circumstances to accept the minimum payment untill your your in future your circumstances change.

To do that you can use this letter and amend it accordingly

The Loan/ Credit Company

Company House,

Church Street,

Newtown,

Kent,

R1 7HG

Dear Sir/Madam

Re Account No/Reference No:- 4563210025897412

Since making that above agreement with you, our circumstances have changed.

I/We cannot now afford to agreed monthly payments because ... [your paragraph added here]

I/We enclose a Personal Budget sheet which shows our total income from all sources, and the total outgoings of our household. As you can see we have no money left to make offers of payment to my creditors.

In view of our circumstances, would you please accept [no payment at present] [a token offer of £1.00 per month] to be reviewed in six months. If interest or other charges are being added to the account, I/we would be grateful if you would freeze these so our debt does not increase.

Should my circumstances improve we will contact you again.

I/We would be grateful if you would send a [paying-in book] [standing order form] to make it easier to pay you.

Thank you for your assistance. I/We look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully

(Print your name but DON’T sign)

Mr A

B. Even if the mortgage is on joint name or not you can still legally dispute that initial deposit was only from your side and there is NO contirution from your partner. Obvious you need all the evidence to demonstare that did deposit actually came from you.

Option (1) If you are still in contact with her and you guys can communicte well there is nothing like it to agree between your self. Although you have quoted before she is not willing to sell. Another approach with someone mutual may be helpful.

Option(2) Make an appointment with local CAB for your self to legally reprsentive. They can help you to prepare with your paperwork and can guide you step by step. You need to be prepare it may be a long battle.

Edited May 23, 2010 by Andy01
Fonts

[loobyloo85]

I would have thought you could definately challenge this. Especially after you have seperated, I would have thought you can look into the beneficial interest side of things in more detail. The beneficial interest is usually determined by the following:

 

Who has been paying the mortgage payment?

Who funded the deposit?

Who has made home improvements?

How long has the person lived there?

 

When all of these points have been looked into by a solicitor, they can prove beneficial interest. As you have funded the deposit solely, I would say that already this gives you an advantage over your ex partner and you should have more equity entitlement than her. I know that it costs a lot of money for solicitors, but may be worth shopping around for these to find out how much you are entitled to. Definately worth the fight x

[inacorner]

Thanks for suggestions re the debts I have a managment plan in force however there is one issue with HFO services that wont go away thread here...

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collection-industry/260375-hfo-services-charging-order.html

 

Re the property I am using solicitors for the fight to see my kids and its crippling having to borrow from friends and family I just couldnt do this again.

 

We split 3 years ago she has lived in the house for that period alone, will not agree to put on the market - all the solicitors say is that she cant claim extra than 50% as she claims for her paying mortgage as I can claim notional rent in lieu of this from not being allowed to live in what is my own home. They say that the mortgage shows the property as jointly owned in equal share and that would sway a judge ??

I'm up for a fight but not sure of how to start

[inacorner]

Since discovering the site I've realsied I've made a load of mistakes in the past but am trying to learn (need to fast with HFO probs see other thread)

 

I have a debt manamement plan in place agreed with all but HFO

 

My question is

should I risk upsetting the applecart (at least the arrangements in place ) by asking the other creditors for CCAs or should I leave well alone?

 

cheers folks

[Andy01]

You are doing nothing wrong by asking CCA. You may be surprise some of them will not be able find your agreements. Send your token £1.00 to each on of them along with your expenditure sheet.

[Hardupnotfedup]

You are doing nothing wrong by asking CCA. You may be surprise some of them will not be able find your agreements. Send your token £1.00 to each on of them along with your expenditure sheet.

 

Sorry if I have missed something, but why does he need to send an expenditure sheet to request a CCA?

[ukaviator]

You don't need an income and expenditure sheet at this time. If you want a copy of your agreement then ask for it. Also check to see if there any charges on these accounts you could claim back. There is a request letter here:

 

http://www.consumerforums.com/resources/templates-library/86-debt-collectors/581-cca-request-letter

 

Also use signguard on your letter so that they can't copy your signature.

[inacorner]

Sorry about so many questions - thanks for the link

 

Was the comment about the expenditure sheet because I already have an agreement in place? Can requesting the credit agreement allow them to withdraw my agreement re repayments?

 

When I get a postal order should it be in anyones name and should it be crossed - do I need to write anything on it? Sorry but I've not use a PO for years - why not just a cheque instead? (I can only assume this about security?)

 

Cheers

[Andy01]

Expenditure sheet only if he wants to come out from Management Payment plan.

[inacorner]

Sorry about so many questions - thanks for the link

 

When I get a postal order should it be in anyones name and should it be crossed - do I need to write anything on it? Sorry but I've not use a PO for years - why not just a cheque instead? (I can only assume this about security?)

 

Cheers

 

 

Anyone please

[debbbbsy]

You go into the PO, they will make the Postal Order Payable to whoever you want. You don't sign anything. A £1 PO costs @£1.40.

 

Debs

[Guest Cartaphilus]

Sorry but I've not use a PO for years - why not just a cheque instead? (I can only assume this about security?)

Don't worry, they really are very easy things these days. What I do is so I don't have to say the name out loud - bearing in mind I don't want anyone else in the PO to know my business if I say 'can I have a postal order to x DCA name' - is type out the name and just hand it to them at the counter. Then they just print off the £1 PO for you, that simple.

 

It's also easy to find out it if it's been cashed so you can also get confirmation of that if HFO say the opposite and don't acknowledge what you've sent at some future point. Don't have the numbers to hand for that but they are on CAG somewhere. Just some things there which might be useful ref the phone number for confirmation.

 

Also, do not worry about asking questions, it's better to know than not know.

[inacorner]

Cheers thanks for that the only thing now is to decide who first think I read somewhere on here about RBS being particulalry poor in this area so thats where I start.

 

The PO is to the DCA not the original organisation isnt it?

 

finally for now if I ask can they then opt of the existing repayment agreements

 

cheers

[Guest Cartaphilus]

The PO is to the DCA not the original organisation isnt it?

Generally, yes. Whomever has the account now eg creditor or DCA.

 

finally for now if I ask can they then opt of the existing repayment agreements

If none of the DCAs you are going to CCA/creditors can produce anything then you can cease paying them if you choose to. In other words, without that all important agreement they shouldn't be asking you for money; most definitely if they are a DCA. For now, send the CCAs off. Then wait out the number of working days required for them to produce a reply. It is likely they will carry on sending out letters or try to phone you. Theoretically, and they also know this and are completely aware of what their (or ought to be) obligations are once they receive this request - but again I suppose it's a reliance on you not knowing they shouldn't - but they should also cease all collection activity until they provide what you've asked for; however, the reality is they don't always. Depends which DCA/creditor you are dealing with. Which means you can ignore any communication from until they do. Once they receive your request it's up to them to reply with something.

 

If they do supply something, then scan it, and remove the obvious identifiable personal things and let others see whether it's enforceable or not.

Edited May 26, 2010 by Cartaphilus

[inacorner]

This ties in with my other thread re HFO and a charging order - I need to SAR Barclays but not sure about the wording of the SAR - sorry if I'm being a bit thick - I asked in other thread but it hasn't been picked up

 

In paragraph 2 of the template do I delete the entire paragraph (as mine is to original organisation- Barclaycard) or as I read it just the bit after the word "or resulted..."

 

What data should I add ie other addresses I've had, full account details?

[Undercover-Elsa]

Hi Inacorner,

Just delete the last part of para 2 which says:

 

or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to my account formerly held with ORIGINAL CREDITOR. - delete or add this depending on whether you are sending this to the original creditor/or a debt collection agency

 

They'll need your account number and current address, but if that's different to the address you had when they last communicated with you then they'll need your address at that time too.

Regards,

Elsa x

[inacorner]

Thank you -

[inacorner]

Since I discoverd this site I've learned an awful lot and looking at the budget spreadheet there are many things I have never included in mine in calculating what repayments I can afford.

 

I have my own plan agreed with creditors (some have ccjs) can I redo my sheet to now include things it didnt previously and as a result reduced the agreed payments ? or will this be a risk.

 

One area in mine I've been questioned on by the creditor was travel costs as I have a long return journey to work by car - are there set limits ie food for a single person etc that a court would have to abide by for such things if it ever came to that?

 

Cheers

[inacorner]

I know I have seen a link on here for this (not imoney manager) but an excell spreadsheet that is just what I need - I've searched high and low and trawled loads of threads but cant find it again

 

can anyone help me find it please

[letsdothis]

see if this helps?

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/show-post/post-2950595.html

[inacorner]

thank you - wish I'd posted earlier

[loobyloo85]

I am presuming that you have set up your own plan with your creditors? If so, you can amend your income and expenditure details if needed, and send them a revised copy out. This is not to say that the creditors wont want more payments though. The budget has to be realistic and the creditors do not usually allow luxury items. As long as you can justify any higher expenses such as travel costs, this is fine. Different creditors have different guidelines, however on my DMP, the maximum a single person is allowed for in housekeeping is £195, and £20 for clothing. Hope this helps.